Assessment

Assessment in schools is a changing landscape. Meetings for parents were held in the summer term 2015 and in the spring term 2016 to explain changes to the National Curriculum and the introduction of Assessment without Levels; the presentations for both events can be accessed below along with a document answering some of the questions raised during the meetings.

​The new curriculum sets out what is to be taught in each year; it has Performance Descriptors for what should be known at the end of each Key Stage but does not provide any system or structure for on going assessment of pupil progress, Schools now have the freedom to make their own professional judgments about how children are learning the knowledge, skills and concepts within the new National Curriculum and to decide how to monitor progress and how to report to parents and pupils about where the pupil is and what they need to do next to make progress.

The National Curriculum Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) remain in place and are designed to help us to assess children's ability in aspects of the core subjects of English and Maths. These tests are statutory and are taken at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2) and at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6). With the new curriculum in place for all year groups since September 2015, the 2016 tests have changed for years 2 and 6.

Pupil progress is of paramount importance; we will continue to use ‘formative’ assessments as well as summative assessments and will seek to show continued pupil progress in a wide range of ways including evidence in pupils’ books. Assessment is not simply used as a measure of a child’s ability at school but as a tool to inform planning, to improve pupils’ ability to learn, and to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills.Your child's progress will be continuously assessed on an informal basis in each lesson by the class teacher. Subsequent lessons will build on what has been achieved previously, reinforce learning and develop new skills at an appropriate pace. This assessment knowledge also contributes to the formal assessment in relation to national curriculum expectations.

Reading skills are fundamental to the development of other curriculum areas and we formally assess all our children from Year 2, twice a year, using a single word reading test. Spellings are formally assessed twice a year using a standardised test so that we can track progress; pupils in KS1 are regularly assessed on spelling using Letters and Sounds phases.

All our assessment procedures are in place to ensure that your child is given an engaging curriculum, with appropriate challenge, to enable them to make the best possible progress. If you wish to know more about your child’s progress, please arrange to talk to the class teacher.

Please click on the links below to read documents referred to in the text and presentation: